NE vintage store closes to focus on online sales

Owner Ricky Kazee, who owned the store with his wife, Sara Kazee, said sales had dropped over the past two years and that the closure of Shuga Records, as well as Spinario Design moving away, contributed to the decision to close.

“Our block became less of a destination for shoppers,” Kazee said. “In the end we decided it just wasn’t worth spending all our time there when we could do just as well selling online.”

Kazee said he started in the vintage business in 2001 and was doing it fulltime by 2005, selling items on eBay and Craigslist while working at home. In 2010, Kazee rented the space for the store following Art-A-Whirl, and opened July 10.

Kazee said he is still renting the space behind the storefront for storage and will focus on private sales and Internet sales. He said he eventually plans to have pop-up sales as well.

According to Kazee, spending more time with his family was also a contributing factor to the closing.

“Having a store was a huge change for us and eventually we decided our time was more important,” he said. “Our kids will only be young once and we can always open another store in the future, although we do not have plans to.”

Like Fried Bologna, Shuga Records closed its storefront to be an online-only store; the operations have since relocated to Chicago. Spinario Design moved to a location on University Avenue near Highway 280.